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New York City Pillow Fight 2011

Credit:Gabi Porter

Since 2007 the kids atNewmindspace have been organizing World Pillow Fight Day in cities all over the world, and for New Yorkers who weren’t in the Union Square area this Saturday afternoon it’s our regret to inform you that you missed it. Yes folks, once a year people gather in their designated spots and beat the stuffing out of each other until they ain’t got no more stuffing…and then later that stuffing is gathered up, sanitized and donated to Pillows for Puppies, who in turn make dog beds for shelter dogs.

Our wildly estimated guess put this year’s crowd at over 1,000 — but it’s hard to see when one is repeatedly smacked in the face with a pillow! — it seemed just about as big as last year, but maybe not quite as big as the year the pillow fight went to Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange. There was a bigger police presence this year (Pillow Fight Day is 100% legal and gets all their permits in order so you can whack away with no risk of jail time, the cops will just laugh at you and shake their heads), with the pillow fight area cordoned off with barricades, where we got to hear the funniest thing we’ve ever heard from an NYPD officer, “Sorry, you can’t go in there without a pillow.” –Gabi Porter

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… and have a good time, rock-out, hide, play, dance, and be merry till the early morning.

R.I.P. sir… I will always remember your hospitality. Thanks for the rockin times.

Photo: David X.Prutting

Donald Mulvihill, better known to rockers and ravers as Don Hill, died yesterday at the age of 66, according to tweets from nightlife types like Justine D (who remembers him as “one of the nicest men in NY nightlife”), Murray Hill (who calls him a “NYC nightlife legend”), and Moby, who says it’s the “end of an era.” Brooklyn Vegan confirmed with his namesake club that an impromptu memorial was held there last night, and Michael Musto of the Voice calls the man “one of the legendary club owners of New York — a man who cared about rock and roll, his performers, and his audiences. Don never wanted to be complacent or boring, but he did all that with a decency and low-key niceness that made business dealings with him very palatable.”

As a Post profile tells it, Hill was born in Jersey and got his first gig at Kenny’s Castaways, where he booked a young Bruce Springsteen for $200 a week. In 1985, he went on to manage the legendary Cat Club, where everyone from David Bowie to Poison to Soundgarden performed. He opened Don Hill’s in 1993 — in addition to hosting an eclectic array of local acts and the occasional up-and-comers like the Strokes, the dive was home to popular weekly parties like the Misshapes, Tiswas, BeavHer, SqueezeBox, and of course 80s Night. Hill was known as an amiable, hands-on host (even stamping hands at the door), and he kept the dream alive during a time when nightlife was marred by bottle-service BS and “quality of life” crackdowns, until Nur Kahn and Paul Sevigny recently joined him. Other clubs, such as Santos, are paying respects, and there will no doubt be memorials around town.